The Archaeology and Early History of the Persian Gulf

Abstract

In antiquity the Persian Gulf region was culturally diverse, containing at least fourmajor regions and many more subregions. These included (a) southern Iran, from theShatt al-Arab to the Strait of Hormuz, certainly not a homogenous area and one whichis frustratingly understudied; (b) southernmost Mesopotamia; (c) northeastern Arabia(modern Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait), Bahrain, and Qatar, in whosematerial culture we can recognize enough similarities to justify such a geographicalgrouping; and (d) southeastern Arabia, the modern UAE, and, although technically outside the Gulf (except for Ras Musandam), Oman.Our knowledge of the Arabian littoral and its offshore islands (Failaka, Bahrain, andthe Abu Dhabi islands) is infinitely greater than that of its Persian counterpart. In spiteof the fact that archaeological research in Iran has a much longer history than it doesin eastern Arabia, the vast majority of surveys and excavations have been conducted incontinental Iran rather than along the coast. Little survey or excavation has been con-ducted on the Iranian Coast 1 and offshore islands, with the exception of Tul-e Peytul(ancient Liyan), near modern Bushehr, where a large mound with Elamite occupation was sounded in 1913 2 ; Kharg Island, where a French expedition excavated part of a Nestorian monastic complex and surveyed numerous other pre-Islamic tombs andmonuments in 1959 and 1960 3 ; Siraf, where an important site of the Sasanian and early Islamic era was excavated from 1966 to 1973 4 ; and Kish Island, where a limited survey and soundings were carried out in the mid-1970s 5 . We have some notices in Greek andLatin sources on this coast and on some of the major islands (e.g., Qishm), 6 but these,although interesting, are of limited value.In contrast, archaeological excavations in Kuwait, eastern Saudi Arabia, Bahrain,Qatar, the UAE, and Oman, which began with the opening of a few tombs on Bahrainin 1879, 7 have gathered in intensity during the past fifty years, particularly in the last twodecades. We now have not only a large number of excavated sites from all periods butalso a significant number of radiocarbon dates and detailed ceramic, metallurgical, faunal,numismatic, and other analyses. In comparison with Mesopotamia, southwestern Iran, PPL-US_PGH-Potter_Ch001.indd 27 PPL-US_PGH-Potter_Ch001.indd 27 10/27/2008 1:16:28 PM 10/27/2008 1:16:28 PM 28 D. T. Potts or South Arabia, the number of indigenous written sources is small, yet their absence iscertainly made up for by a robust archaeological sequence.In this chapter I shall deal with the pre-Sasanian record of human occupation in thefour major regions (a–d) defined above. As indicated already, the archaeological, epi-graphic, and literary sources available for each region differ markedly in quantity andquality. On the one hand the trends and developments discernible in one region are notalways documented in another, while on the other hand certain developments transcendthe boundaries of these regions. Overall, however, the Persian Gulf constitutes a coher-ent region with a historical identity comparable to Mesopotamia, Egypt, or the Indus Valley